Saturday, October 15, 2016

Thoughts on a Running Off-season, plus Cape to Cabot Pre-race Musings

With the Cape to Cabot taking place tomorrow, I find myself at the end of another race season. This is my 4th year running, and I have finished my season with the C2C every year. To be more accurate, every year prior to this one I have stopped running completely after the C2C, picking up again sometime in the new year. I have yet to run a single kilometer between the third Sunday in October and New Years.

There are a few main reasons why I do this. For one, I am not a cold weather runner. I also like to be able to get a few months of dedicated strength training in, as I find that is beneficial to both my overall health and my running. And finally, I just like a little mental break. I've always played sports that are broken up by season, so staying focused on running year-round seems a little draining at times.

In previous years, I haven't really given this much thought. Most of my running training was targeted at specific races, and I really didn't feel like I'd be losing much by stopping for a few months. This year is different. I have focused in a lot more with my training, and by doing so I've been able to greatly improve my times. So my concern at this point is that if I take a full two month plus hiatus, I'll be losing everything I've gained and starting back from scratch in January.

So, I'd like to hear some thoughts from others as to how they handle their running "off-season". I know for a lot of people they simply keep running, but with less mileage. That doesn't work great for me, as I only run 3-4 times a week for a total of 25-30 km as it is. And maybe the answer is that I've just got to suck it up and keep running! But I'm interested in getting some feedback from others, and hopefully this can generate some good discussion.

__________________________________________________________________________________


As I'm finishing this post, there is about 13 hours until the start of this year's C2C. This is my favourite race on the calendar every year, and it's always one I look forward to. I'll never forget the first year I ran it, when my daughter was only 4 years old. She's always been a big fan of both Cape Spear and Signal Hill, and so she thought it was so cool that I was running from one to the other. I think she was even giddier than I was to get her hands on the medal that first year! She's 7 now, and this will be her 4th year in a row heading out to the end of Maddox Cove Road to cheer me on, and then heading up to Signal Hill for the finish. She even stood there in the rain during Gonzalo in 2014! So this has always been a family event for us, and it was made even more special last year when my dad ran the race as well. We were able to get a picture at Cabot Tower last year with me, my dad, and his two brothers all having finished the race, and the hope is to get that same picture, commemorating the same accomplishment, tomorrow.

I'll quickly review my personal goals for tomorrow. As I said last week,I go into every race with three goals. Number 1 for tomorrow is to break 1:50:00. Number 2 is to break my two year slide in this race and set a new PB, as my fastest time is still the first year I ran the C2C (1:56:29). And the final goal, as it always is for this race, is just to finish. I will never feel disappointment at completing the C2C, no matter what my time is.

In closing, I'd like to wish everyone else who is running tomorrow good luck. Since this is my 4th C2C, I guess I'm a bit of a veteran of the race, so I'll give as much wisdom as I can, which probably isn't much!

- Dress warmly, as it'll be cool at the start. A winter's hat and a pair of gloves are likely a good idea for the first half of the race.

- Remember your training. This race can beat you down in places. My personal nemesis is the climb from Maddox Cove Road to the top of Shea Heights. But if you start to get down, remember all the miles you've run and the hills you've climbed, and know that you can do this.

- Forget your time. I think this is the most important one for this race, especially for first timers. It's a challenging course, and time wise it can really only compare with itself. So try your best to enjoy the run, take in the scenery, and appreciate the accomplishment you are getting as a reward for all your training, completing the hardest race in Eastern North America!


I think that's about as much wisdom as I have. I hope everyone can get a good night's rest tonight, and I look forward to seeing all the PRCers out on the course tomorrow morning, whether you are running, volunteering, or cheering us on.


Cheers and Thanks for reading,

Ryan  

No comments:

Post a Comment